BEULAVILLE — The Northside girls went on a run that was worthy on a league title.

The Monarchs closed the third quarter on a 9-0 spurt and never looked back en route to a 50-37 victory over East Duplin that gave Northside the outright East Central 2-A Conference regular-season crown.

The Monarchs and Panthers entered the regular-season finale tied for first place in the league with the winner earning the title.

And that title now goes to the Monarchs (19-4, 12-2), who have won the ECC four times in the last five years. East Duplin (19-5, 11-3) won last year’s conference title before losing to the Monarchs in the ECC tournament final.

This year’s tournament pairings will be released today.

“Last year they (Panthers) beat us on senior night and we wanted (to avenge) that loss,” Northside senior Ashanti Curry said. “This shows we can play under pressure.”

The Monarchs’ win also avenged a 39-36 loss to the Panthers on Jan. 22. Since that loss, the Monarchs have been trying to work themselves back in the standings.

“With seven games to go, we knew that we had one job and that was to win out if we wanted to win the conference,” Northside first-year coach Chad Novelli said.

But the win at East Duplin didn’t come easy.

Both teams took turns going on runs before the Monarchs’ 9-0 run in the third quarter finally gave them some breathing room.

The game was tied at 29-29 after a field goal by the Panthers’ Amber Hall with 1:40 left in the third quarter.

However, Northside’s Kayla Hill made two free throws to give her team a 31-29 edge. Charissa Moore followed with two consecutive field goals before Journee Collins made a 3-pointer as time expired to end the quarter to give Northside a 38-29 lead.

“In the second half, we started doing the things that’s led to our success. We let our defense create our offense,” Novelli said. “Our goal was to come out and play hard.”

Makayla Byrd led the Panthers with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Tenae McKinzie and Kendall Lego each added 7 points.

Byrd made her third of three 3-pointers with 2:20 left in the third quarter to give East Duplin a 28-27 lead.

“We turned the ball over at key times,” East Duplin coach Mark Lane said. “They (Monarchs) got steals and they took us out of rhythm. It (Northside’s defense) didn’t bother us until we started rushing too much. We stopped moving as a team.”

The Monarchs then scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to pull away.

Page 2 of 2 - “We knew the third quarter would be the most important quarter,” Curry said.

Curry was instrumental in the Monarchs’ defense as she defended East Duplin leading scorer Brittney Woodard, who finished with just 4 points.

“I know she is a very strong player and I have respect for her,” Curry said of Woodard. “I just tried to move my feet and not foul her.”